Top Pick
Selling skillets: Tastemade is testing commerce and TV
Tastemade, the fun food video publisher, is trying new things with video commerce. And it's really working.
Still in a testing phase, they've run a video not on a recipe, but a $180 skillet. They were hesitant that they'd be able to sell something at this price-point. The skillets sold out, and generated over $600k in revenue for Tastemade.
We have a hunch there'll be plenty more video commerce coming out of Tastemade in the future.
Features
Here’s Mary Meeker’s essential 2018 Internet Trends report
We've trawled through all 294 slides to being you our 7 key points:
- 3.6 billion people - or half the world's population - are on the internet, meaning growth in harder to find.
- New content types are emerging: big screens and fast connections are unlocking new types of mobile experiences.
- E-commerce booms: 13% of all retail purchases happen online and parcel shipments are rising swiftly, signaling big opportunities for new shopping apps.
- Amazon dominates search but lacks discovery: 49% of product searches begin with Amazon but social media drives discovery with 55% of purchases made after social media discovery.
- Subscribe: subscription services are seeing massive adoption, with Netflix up 25%, The New York Times up 43%, and Spotify up 48% year-over-year in 2017. A free tier accelerates conversion rates.
- Speech recognition is mainstream: Amazon Echo's install base went from 10 million to 30 million units - Google Machine learning word accuracy is at 95%.
- Shopping is entertainment: mobile shopping apps are growing fast. Average app sessions grew 6% for 2017 vs 2016 whilst mobile shopping app sessions grew by 54%. The next closet category was music / media / entertainment at 43%.
Get the full report here: http://www.kpcb.com/internet-trends
Future of TV
How digital advertisers are adapting habits to reach audiences that prefer TV
Where do digital video platforms advertise when times are tough? TV. It is projected that Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google (FAANG) have already spent $1.8 billion on TV advertising.
Facebook recently launched a campaign to restore public confidence called "Here Together" after the privacy crisis. They are not alone when YouTube need to attract new community members they turn to TV. The same goes for when Netflix need viewers for a new show, or when Apple launches a new phone TV is always the answer.
Why? FAANG realised that TV can do several things for them that they cannot do for themselves. TV allows them to reach millions of potential customers at once, with no bots, no ad fraud, and it is third-party verified.
Storytelling
How Killing Eve reverse-engineered binge watching
Killing Eve is a good example of how to engineer a hit show by cleverly managing new distribution platforms and generating audience interest on social media.
The show has in part become a success due to a clever social media strategy cultivated by Molly Templeton, a social media director at Everybody at Once. The strategy involves engaging the followers of Orphan Black, a similar BBC America show, to help spread the word of Killing Eve. BBC America then, made Killing Eve easily accessibly on their own catch up platform and Amazon Prime.
Virtual Reality
To the dismay of its audience, Magic Leap livestream dodges key questions
It seems like the past few years of hype around Magic Leap is being somewhat dulled, at what should be the most exciting part of all: the product reveal.
Getting developers on board is vital to the success of any new platform, no matter the marketing budget, and it raises some flags that Magic Leap is still dangling the carrot.
Fans and potential developers were promised they'd get to finally meet the headset during a livestream session which took place earlier this week, but were left disappointed and frustrated. Details on the headset were kept surface-level, and the hosts deliberately avoided questions relating to how the Magic Leap experience actually worked. There's a lesson here for all of us in managing expectations and handling a live audience.
Briefs
- Amazon breaks Premier League hold of Sky and BT with Prime streaming deal
- Here’s what the first Facebook-funded news shows will look like
- Instagram plans to launch Snapchat Discover-style video hub
- As YouTube looks to improve its news credentials, it is interviewing senior news people about a job
- Amazon’s Fire TV Cube is an Echo, streaming box, and universal remote in one
The studio behind Rez Infinite is making a VR version of Tetris
Tetris in VR might sound boring. But after watching this promo video of the new Tetris Effect for Playstation, it feels more like a path to spiritual enlightenment.